The history of the blues, Through time and sound progression

2. The Origins

3. The Origins

4. ... a lean, loose-jointed Negro [who] had
commenced plucking a guitar beside me while
I slept. His clothes were rags; his feet peeped
out of his shoes. W. C. Handy. 1903

5. Ma Rainey Sippie Wallace Bessie Smith

6. Son House
Blind Lemon Jefferson
Charlie Patton

7. Skip James
LeadBelly
Robert Johnson
Tommy Johnson

8. Robert Johnson
In exchange for his soul, Robert Johnson
was able to create the blues for which he
became famous.
Me And The Devil Blues

9. Muddy Waters
Howlin’ Wolf
Willie Dixon

10. Eric Clapton
B. B. King
Buddy Guy
John Lee Hooker

13. How Music Traveled Over Time --->
“I'm a bluesman moving through a blues-soaked America, a
blues-soaked world, a planet where catastrophe and
celebration- joy and pain sit side by side. The blues started off in
some field, some plantation, in some mind, in some imagination, in some heart.
The blues blew over to the next plantation, and then the next state. The blues
went south to north, got electrified and even sanctified. The blues got mixed up
with jazz and gospel and rock and roll.”
― Cornel West, Brother West: Living and Loving Out Loud, A Memoir